Smoke and mirrors, schadenfreude and subterfuge.
Considering the four protagonists in the press-conference room continue to chase the same elusive goal, the words and actions of Formula One's quartet of potential world champions was perhaps unsurprising.
As Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber walked into the bustling and buzzing room - their conversations drowned out by the drone of the massed paparazzi - all four, it appeared, were relaxed and at ease in their surroundings.
However, when the questions began few would have guessed each of these four men - grouped somewhat bizarrely with AT&T Williams's Niko Hulkenberg - were on the cusp of becoming the undisputed champion of their sport.
Each man's monotonous, bland answers were as short as they were blunt. Webber initially appeared in such a rush to get the whole thing over and done with that when the quartet of contenders was asked to pose for photos, pre-conference, the 34-year-old had forgotten to button his trousers. Cue ice-breaking laughter.
Alonso, the Ferrari driver who narrowly leads the championship standings, instigated a group hug, yet Webber shrugged distantly, allowing his arms to hang loosely by his sides. This was not a man in the mood for friends, fun and pretence. His posture - rigid and muscular - said "Terminator", his voice - quiet and croaky - said "terminal".
When each driver was asked to detail his car's strengths around the Yas Marina Circuit, Webber, the Australian whose Red Bull-Renault is undeniably superior to the Ferraris, mumbled "same as him" and waved his hand towards the Spaniard. Alonso, for the record, had said his car does not have the same speed as his main rivals.
Cryptic or confusing?
Vettel, Webber's teammate at Red Bull, was in a more relaxed mood, his high spirits matched only by his low expectations. And it was he, not the quote-hungry journalists, who raised the issue that had so irked him at the post-race press conference in Sao Paulo last week: team orders.
"Forty years ago the drivers had no tactics - it was flat out," Vettel said. "The approach has been like that for the last few races for me.
"The target is clear. The speed has been there all season and it was not the easiest season for myself.
"We are still in the hunt and we will try our best, but the clear favourites going into the weekend are Mark and Fernando.
The German had said earlier in the afternoon that he would "tease" the media by refusing to reveal his strategy for race day and he was true to his word by immediately appearing to contradict his above stance on team tactics.
"With lots of things to do, there are better things to spend more energy on than what happens on Sunday," he said. "If the situation occurs on Sunday then we know we are driving for the team."
With the potential for Red Bull infighting palpable, it was thought that Alonso may have been tempted to try to stir up trouble between the two teammates. The potential was there. It is common knowledge that Webber and Vettel are not the best of friends.
Hate is too strong a word, but at times you could be forgiven for looking at the body language of the two men in the dark-blue caps, who sat at opposite ends of the table and barely glanced at each other throughout, and concluded they would rather be competing together in the Abu Dhabi Fighting Championship than the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
And yet when the opportunity arose for Alonso to mix it up, he skipped past it as easily as he would a stalled car on the starting grid.
In fact, it was Alonso - having chatted up both Red Bull drivers separately - who appeared most comfortable. He would not be disappointed, he said, if he leaves the UAE without the drivers' championship because he has taken many positives out of the season and is just happy to be back fighting for it following two years in the wilderness of F1 irrelevance.
When one member of the press corps decided to capitalise on the Spaniard's apparent ease and quiz him on his feelings were the title to be dictated by Red Bull team orders, Alonso steered around the issue with the experience of a two-time champion.
In doing so he also avoided the possibility of being labelled a hypocrite following his own additional seven-point haul at Hockenheim courtesy of Ferrari's use of tactics.
"Winning by seven, one or 25 points is not the most important thing in my mind right now," he said.
Winning, despite what the four contenders will have us believe, is why they are all in Abu Dhabi. Whether they plan to do that alone or with a little help from their "friends" will inevitably become clear in the coming days.
gmeenaghan@thenational.ae
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
Neil Thomson – THE BIO
Family: I am happily married to my wife Liz and we have two children together.
Favourite music: Rock music. I started at a young age due to my father’s influence. He played in an Indian rock band The Flintstones who were once asked by Apple Records to fly over to England to perform there.
Favourite book: I constantly find myself reading The Bible.
Favourite film: The Greatest Showman.
Favourite holiday destination: I love visiting Melbourne as I have family there and it’s a wonderful place. New York at Christmas is also magical.
Favourite food: I went to boarding school so I like any cuisine really.
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
T20 World Cup Qualifier
October 18 – November 2
Opening fixtures
Friday, October 18
ICC Academy: 10am, Scotland v Singapore, 2.10pm, Netherlands v Kenya
Zayed Cricket Stadium: 2.10pm, Hong Kong v Ireland, 7.30pm, Oman v UAE
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Rameez Shahzad, Darius D’Silva, Mohammed Usman, Mohammed Boota, Zawar Farid, Ghulam Shabber, Junaid Siddique, Sultan Ahmed, Imran Haider, Waheed Ahmed, Chirag Suri, Zahoor Khan
Players out: Mohammed Naveed, Shaiman Anwar, Qadeer Ahmed
Players in: Junaid Siddique, Darius D’Silva, Waheed Ahmed
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 178hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 280Nm at 1,350-4,200rpm
Transmission: seven-speed dual-clutch auto
Price: from Dh209,000
On sale: now
Name: Peter Dicce
Title: Assistant dean of students and director of athletics
Favourite sport: soccer
Favourite team: Bayern Munich
Favourite player: Franz Beckenbauer
Favourite activity in Abu Dhabi: scuba diving in the Northern Emirates
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
The biog
Name: Fareed Lafta
Age: 40
From: Baghdad, Iraq
Mission: Promote world peace
Favourite poet: Al Mutanabbi
Role models: His parents
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
